


Dusty Ol' Dirt Town

by actual_iggy



Category: The Dukes of Hazzard (TV)
Genre: Family Relationship - Freeform, OC-centric, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6032449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actual_iggy/pseuds/actual_iggy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>17-year-old Annabelle is set to live a life of a housewife since she already has a baby boy. She thinks her grandfather's death and her parents' extended prison sentence mean she'll finally be on her own, until she's told instead to go to a tiny dirt-town in the middle of nowhere, where her great-uncle lives. Nothing exciting ever happened to her in Memphis, and even less of anything exciting will happen in little dirty, dusty ol' Hazzard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

There was a shape in the hotel parking lot. A shape with hair pulled back in a fish-tailed braid, a bag over its shoulder and a bundle on its back. This shape slunk towards the others in the dark lot- the car-shapes. With the quietest of clicks the shape tried opening all the car doors. Nothing. Then, it came across a car with tightly shut doors but no glass in the windows. These windows, the shape slid through and climbed into the back seat, where it lay for the night, clutching the bundle in its arms. 

Morning came and with it came two wild boys who jumped through their car windows and started off down the road, laughing and chatting. They fell silent, the blond driver pulling the car to the side of the empty country road as they heard the soft whimpers of a baby starting to cry. Slowly, the boys first looked at each other, matching blue-green eyes wide with shock. Then they turned to the back seat as the sound of someone shushing the child was heard. 

There sat a young woman, rocking a fussing baby and shushing it. Her hair was put back in a messy fish-tail braid, but it was a dark-dirt brown. Her eyes, which looked up in fear at the boys now watching her were a bright sky blue. Said eyes filled with tears as she wordlessly clutched her baby close. 

"What're you doin' back there?" Asked the blond, flashing a reassuringly bright smile. He spoke with less of concern and more of mild surprise, as if he were sure she was quite harmless, like a squirrel or mouse who'd ended up in the backseat of his car. The woman was silent, bouncing her baby on her arm to comfort it. The blond continued, with that same friendly look on his face, "Y'know you could just ask us for a ride next time!" 

"I..." The woman started, recovering from the shock of being discovered. "We were only sleepin' back here. Jus' let me out and y'all can be on your way." 

"In the middle of nowhere? With a baby?" The darker-haired one asked. 

"Y'all probably wouldn't know where we're headed." She said matter-of-factly. 

"You probably don't know where we're headed neither!" Laughed the blond. Clearly, they found her more of a curiosity than a threat or even plaything, which was something she didn't normally see in young men who stayed in hotels. She started to relax a little, thinking that perhaps these boys didn't mean her any harm. They did speak with a very thick, simple farm accent, which she felt somewhat comforted by, actually. 

"I'm goin' to a lil' bitty dirt-town, where my great-uncle lives." She informed them. "It's so small hardly anyone even knows it, my grandpapa says." The boys exchanged another glance and then both looked at her and both said very factually, 

"Hazzard." 

The girl was startled, but she nodded. "Yup, that's it alright. Y'all know where it is from here?" 

"Not only do we know, but we probably know your great-uncle too, since we've lived there all our lives!" The blond enthusiastically said. The woman smiled nervously and requested a ride, to which the boys agreed quite heartily. Then the blond turned to his dark-haired companion, "Hey, Luke, get in the back and let the lady up front!" 

"How about you get in back and I'll drive?" Luke responded.  

"Aw, you drive like a grandpa, though! The Gen'ral needs someone behind the wheel who'll treat him all proper like the racin' car he is!" The blond complained. The girl smiled in her shy, nervous way at their squabbling.  

"I'll stay back here. Richie needs me anyways and it's safer for a baby in the back." 

"If you insist." The blond said, flashing another smile. "By the way, my name's Bo and that's my cousin Luke." 

"I'm Annabelle." The woman replied. "My baby is Richie. He's five months old." 

"What's your last name, Annabelle?" Luke asked, leaning over the back of the car's seat. "We might be able to CB for your great-uncle once we're back in range." 

"Our last name's Coltrane." The girl said. "My great uncle would be my grandpapa Terrance's kid brother Rosco he always talked about, who moved with his sister to live with their aunt during the Great Depression, since they were the youngest and the most of a burden." 

The boys didn't say much after that, instead seeming to silently conference this fact. Luke turned back to Annabelle shortly after. "We know Rosco. Things don't sit so well between us Dukes and him, I'll tell you that. We'll explain later, but we're gonna take you back to our Uncle Jesse's farm first, before we just roll up to City Hall like this and probably get accused of kidnappin' you." 

"Does my great-uncle work in the City Government?" Annabelle asked, surprised. 

"Most corrupt sheriff in the tri-county area, sure." Snorted Bo. Annabelle looked distressed. 

"I don't want my baby to grow up with someone who's... corrupted... But I don't have anywhere else to go!" 

"Annabelle, just calm down, will ya?" Luke said calmly. "It ain't so bad, honest. Just, we'll take you to the farm, and we'll talk to Uncle Jesse about what to do, and you and your baby will be safe." He turned back to his cousin, "And Bo, _stop scarin' the lady._ " 

Annabelle nodded and held her baby close as the car came down the road. The blond snorted, "Okay, Mom," but otherwise obeyed. There was quiet in the car except for soft sounds from the baby for a while. 

"So, why'd you decide to sleep in the General Lee, of all the cars in that parking lot?" Bo asked, to break the silence. 

"Oh, mostly 'cuz it was dark and your car was the only one that had a way in." She answered. "I've hitchhiked and walked down here all the way from Memphis where my grandaddy lived. I was raised by him since the state took my mama and daddy away 'cuz they were helpin' bootleggers." 

Bo and Luke looked mildly uncomfortable. 

"My friend Bessy got put into a foster group home 'cuz her parents were actually makin' liquor in their back yard and it was found to be unfit." Annabelle continued conversationally. "There's talk up in Memphis about you backwoods boys and your moonshine stills in the woods and such. Is that true? Is that why y'all were stayin' in that hotel?" 

"No, no, Annabelle." Bo reassured her. "Well, I mean... It's true down here we do make and sell a lotta 'shine as a whole, but me and Luke ain't in that no more." 

"We got caught once. We're on probation, in fact." Luke agreed. "And I dunno if we'll go back to it after," he added shooting his cousin a look. Annabelle silently concluded that it was Bo's fault the two had gotten caught at their illegal action. 

"Huh. So, uh, why y'all takin' me to your uncle's instead of your own houses?" she asked. 

"We live with Uncle Jesse." Luke answered. "We grew up there, just him raisin' me, Bo and our girl cousin Daisy." 

"Oh." Annabelle said, falling silent once more as the car was guided through the dirt roads onto a familiar one, with a battered sign and a driveway leading up to an old farmhouse. This, she was told, was the house of the boys' uncle. There was a young girl pulling laundry down from a clothesline into a basket, chatting in a cheerful way to an old man who appeared to be doing a newspaper crossword. This, Annabelle was informed, was the boys' uncle. The girl was the third cousin, Daisy. 

"You'll never guess what we found in the hotel outside that racetrack." Bo told his girl cousin. She glanced over at Annabelle and cracked a pretty grin. 

"You finally found a girlfriend you're gonna stick with?" She joked. 

"Nope. Guess again." Bo insisted on the game. 

" _Luke_ finally found a girlfriend he's gonna stick with?" Daisy replied, raising an eyebrow and hoisting the laundry basket on her hip. 

"Nope. Here lemme get that for you." The blond offered, taking the heavy basket from his cousin. 

"Then who _is_ that girl Luke's got with him?" The girl finally asked, pointing. 

"Daisy, don't point." Uncle Jesse absentmindedly reminded her. 

"You barely looked at her!" laughed Bo. "How'd you know she pointed?" 

"'Cuz she's pointed at everything since she first figured out she had fingers to point with." He replied. 

"Sorry." Daisy apologized. "But, Bo, who is that girl? 

"That's Annabelle. She's lookin' for her great-uncle." The blond explained as a sun-warmed sheet was draped over his head by his girl cousin. 

"Huh. Well, take that into the house for me, and I'm gonna go say howdy." Daisy headed over to the curious girl and her baby. 

"Well hi there." She greeted. The girl nodded in return, then stuck out the hand which wasn't holding her baby. 

"Hi. I'm Annabelle and the baby is my lil' Richie. Your cousins gave me a ride here after I crawled in to sleep in their backseat and got caught." She said with a smile. "I'm tryin' to get to my great-uncle who lives in this town." 

"Well, my Uncle Jesse knows everyone in town! I bet he knows your great-uncle! What's his name?" Daisy enthused, dragging the girl over to her uncle. Annabelle froze. 

"Uhm..." She said, remembering the reaction from last time. "Well," she started, but Luke beat her to it. 

"Her great-uncle is her grandaddy Terrance's kid brother, who moved from Memphis during the Great Depression. Ring any bells, Uncle Jesse?" He said with a slight smirk in place. 

"Let me think..." Jesse said, putting his newspaper down. "I know there were a few kids who moved into the orphanage during the Depression, 'cuz their parents couldn't feed 'em." He continued to think, flipping the newspaper idly. "Well, let's see... Kids who came here durin' the Depression who still live here today," he mused, "Would be..." He suddenly looked at the girl, really looked at her. "Why, that would be Rosco and Lulu Coltrane, of course! And you look jes' like 'em, too!" Then he realized what this meant. "Rosco's got a grandneice and a great-grandnephew?" 

"Technically he's adopted me. I'm only 17." She informed him. 

"With a baby?!" Jesse suddenly, very incredulously asked. 

"It warn't my fault, honest!" She cried, frightened. "Grandmama got sick and we needed medicine, and there was this nice young man with a pile'a money who said he'd help-" 

"Shush, shush, hun, it's alright. I ain't judgin' you for somethin' some stupid boy done to ya'." He reassured her. 

"You're 17?" Bo cried from across the yard, having just returned from his laundry errand. 

"Aw, come on, that's only what, four years younger than you?" Snorted Luke. "How do you think _I_ feel, since I'm eight older than that?" 

"Five, and I _am_ pretty glad I ain't you right now." The blond said, giving his normal cocky grin. He turned to Annabelle. "My cousin and I both think you're real pretty, but since you're so young, we'll keep our hands off, bein' honorable men, of course." 

"I appreciate both your interests and your keeping-the-hands-off." She said with a somewhat flirty smile. "If I were five years older, Bo Duke, I would not hesitate to pursue you, as I think you are real pretty too." 

"And what am I?" Snorted Luke. 

"More than ten years older than me, and not a cute blondie country boy!" She told him, still smiling. 

"It's alright, Luke!" Daisy called out. "You look good in your old age!" Luke crossed his arms and stared at her, struggling to keep a straight face. 

"Now, Daisy, that's quite enough." Uncle Jesse started, but there was a smile on his face. "Anyway, Annabelle, come on into the house. I'll see if I can get Rosco on the CB." 

The group headed into the house and soon found themselves in front of a radio with the old man holding the transmitter. "This is Jesse Duke lookin' for Sheriff Rosco, come back." 

"This is Deputy Enos here Jesse! Sheriff's back at the station, so y'all should call there if y'all need him, over!" Crackled the radio. 

"Well that explains why we weren't waylaid on the way back here!" observed Bo. Jesse sighed. 

"The one time we need him to be out and about..." the old man grumbled, but then motioned over towards the phone. "Bo, Luke, one of you go call the station and get Rosco here." 

"Nose knows who goes!" Shouted Bo, putting his finger on his nose. Annabelle laughed and Daisy shook her head as Luke rolled his eyes and headed for the phone. He clearly did these things anyway, since it appeared he was the oldest. 

"Hey, Rosco. This is Luke Duke. We got a situation here on the farm that you should come see about." The dark-haired man looked confused at the phone receiver. "He hung up. Guess he thinks it's something that'd get us in trouble." he snorted. 

"I guess I'll make a pitcher of iced tea and bake some cookies." Daisy suggested. "Annabelle, why don't you help me out? You ever made sweet tea before?" 

"Not so much, but I got a real good cookie recipe my Mama taught me!" She said, smiling.  

"Great! Uncle Jesse, do we got a high chair or pen or something for the baby?" Daisy asked. 

"In the closet, hun. We still got Bo's old playpen." The man replied. "Luke, while your cousin is making cookies and tea you and Bo should go clean off your car and feed the hens." 

"Aww, Uncle Jesse, the General ain't so dirty..." Complained Bo, obeying nonetheless and following his dark-haired cousin out into the yard. Annabelle went to follow, but Daisy stopped her. 

"Ain't you helpin' with the cookies?" She asked with a smile. 

"Yeah... I guess I am." She said with a somewhat reluctant look out at the boys laughing and teasing each other as they went. 

"You were a tomboy growin' up, weren't you?" Daisy said, looking Annabelle over again. "Runnin' around and playin' in the mud like all the boys, huh?" 

"All my cousins were boys." She replied. "I have a brother who's up in Detroit on police duty." 

"Are a lot of your family in police duty?" Daisy asked. 

"Some of us. Enough that I warn't surprised a bit that Great-Uncle Rosco is one." Annabelle said with a smile. 

The girls looked out the window to see Bo and Luke going at the General Lee with a bucket of water and some rags. This was a common occurrence, Daisy mentioned, since the majority of their hometown was actually dusty dirt roads. Both boys had taken off their shirts, knowing they'd get wet. Annabelle, still watching, let out a very unladylike whistle. "Them cousins of yours are _very_ pretty boys." She told Daisy. 

"You should see how the girls fall over Bo and his blond hair and charming words." She snorted. "They like Luke, if they like him more, 'cuz he's got a little more emotional depth to him, y'know, he ain't just a pretty face." 

"Hey, where'd Luke get that big scar right on his arm? A car wreck from bein' a moonshiner?" Annabelle asked, pointing and earning a startled look from Daisy. "They told me all about that and about their probation and all." She clarified with a smile. 

"Well," Daisy started, "when Luke was eighteen, there was the war in Vietnam still on, and there was a draft... Let's just say some communist got real lucky with an anti-aircraft gun. Only reason Bo avoided the draft, I suspect, is 'cuz he was only ten or eleven when it happened." 

"Oh." Annabelle said, and left it at that. "Y'all grew up together, then?" She asked conversationally. 

"Yup. We were all three of us orphaned by a car wreck when we were just little and Uncle Jesse took us in as our last relative still in Hazzard. I don't remember the car crash night, since I was only... I dunno, three, when it happened, but Luke does. He was almost eight. Bo never even knew his mama and daddy since he was just a baby..." Daisy explained, sighing. "So, how'd you get here, with a baby on your back?" 

"My grandpapa was raisin' me while my Mama and Daddy served time in the Tennessee State Prison for helpin' bootleggers. He died, and his will said I should go to Hazzard and stay with my great-uncle. I had no way to get down here, so I just started walkin'. I hitchhiked some too. Got food from kind folks around the countrysides, slept in the backs of cars, all that." Annabelle said. 

"It's a little bit of a stretch to put a moonshiner in prison for more'n five years..." Daisy observed. Just then, the boys came back in, tucking their shirts in to look proper. 

"I saw a patrol car comin' up the drive." Bo reported. "That must be Rosco." Annabelle began to appear shaky and unnerved, so the blond slapped a hand on her shoulder and flashed a grin. "Aw, don't be so nervous! Rosco's real nice if you ain't messin' with him all the time like we do! I bet he'll be pleased to know he's got a cute lil' 'dopted daughter like you!" 

"You think so?" Annabelle asked hopefully. 

"I do." The blond said, nodding almost sagely, still smiling. Then there came a rapping at the door. Uncle Jesse headed off in that direction while the four youngers stayed in the den to watch. 

"Rosco! It's nice to see you here and not after the boys! Come in, sit down, have some iced tea!" The man greeted. 

"That's nice of you, Jesse, but I do gotta ask why you'd call me here if there ain't nothin' wrong, and Enos in the field-" the man started, and Uncle Jesse's expression got serious. 

"We got somethin' alright. Not wrong, but we got somethin'. You might wanna sit down." 

The sheriff obeyed, sitting at one of the kitchen chairs. "In that case, then, I 'spose I'll take some iced tea." 

"Daisy," Uncle Jesse started, but the girl was already on it. "Good girl." He praised as she set the glass down along with a plate of the cookies. 

"Here you are. I've got to head to work soon, Uncle Jesse. At two in fact." The girl informed her uncle. 

"I'll take you, Daisy, if you like." Rosco politely offered. "I'm headin' up there about that time to meet Boss anyways." 

"I'd rather drive myself, no offense." The girl politely declined. "Bo, Luke, bring her in here, if you please!" She called out. 

The boys lead Annabelle into the kitchen, her baby in his bundle on her back and sound asleep. She smiled nervously, clutching a series of papers she said were her and the baby's birth records and adoption papers. She'd cleaned up while Daisy made the refreshments, combing road dust from her hair and wiping her and the baby's faces off with a damp cloth. She wore one of Daisy's old outfits, since she was just a bit smaller- this was a flannel shirt which had reportedly even before belonging to Daisy belonged to Luke and jeans which were rolled up on the bottom. The baby wore an old white onsie which he had had on when he'd arrived to the farm, being too small for the old two-year-old clothes they had. 

Annabelle stopped cold. "Mornin' to you, sir." She said softly, shyly. 

"Mornin' to you too, miss. You the one they wanna show me?" The officer responded. 

"Yes, sir. I..." she took a deep breath. Daisy reassuringly touched her arm. "My name is Annabelle Coltrane, and I'm seventeen, and therefore the state of Tennessee, honoring my grandaddy's will, sent me here to live with my great-uncle Rosco, and my baby Richie too." She finally said, her voice loud, but quivering. "Bo and Luke Duke here found me asleep in the back of their car, and bein' honorable men," this earned a startled glance to the boys from Rosco, to which they shrugged as one, "they took me back to their family's farm and helped me contact you." Another deep breath was taken as Annabelle held out the handful of papers, which were promptly taken from her hand. "Those are mine and Richie's birth records, a copy of the will and the papers from the state signin' us over to you." 

"Can they do that without gettin' a signature from Rosco himself?" Uncle Jesse asked. 

"I was just gonna ask that." agreed the sheriff.  

Annabelle nodded solemnly. "It's a law in Tennessee that yes, they can assign guardianship without the signature of the new guardian, if they live in a different state, and it's assignment by a will. Since grandpapa assigned me to live with you in his will, and you live in Georgia, we're stuck here." 

"I wouldn't say you're stuck. Makes it sound like it's terrible here." Snorted Bo. "Which, I guess-" He was met with an elbow to the ribs on both sides by his cousins and an emphatic "Bo, _hush_ " from both Uncle Jesse and Rosco. Rubbing the sore spot closest to Daisy, the blond did not finish his thought. 

"I mean I ain't got the room for a baby..." Rosco started, looking the papers over. "My little house in town ain't fit for two more. Cain't you go to the orphanage?" 

"Maybe Boss could set her up in the Hogg Hotel in town." Luke suggested, hardly containing his smirk. "Rosco, you're his friend. Go ask. I bet he'd do it for a _friend_." 

"Luke, you better mind that tongue before it runs out your mouth." Uncle Jesse warned. He turned to Rosco, "Although, that ain't a bad idea. Unless you want that six-month-old baby in your house." He turned to Annabelle, "Either way, of course, you're always welcome here, and of course we can give you some baby things- toys, a crib, blankets, all those things, since about twenty years ago, we did have a baby here." 

"Twenty-one." Corrected Bo without thinking. Luke shook his head and Uncle Jesse shot the blond a look. 

"No, closer to twenty." Luke corrected his cousin. 

"I swear I was only one when we came here." 

"You were almost two. You turned two right before the adoption got finalized, ya dumbell." He snorted, fondly ruffling his younger cousin's hair. 

"I hate to break up a family conversation, but what are we gonna do about her?" Rosco asked rather testily, pointing out Annabelle. Uncle Jesse leaned back in his chair. 

"Take her with you to the Boar's Nest and ask J.D. if he'll let her stay in the hotel- er, how close to eighteen are you, hun?" 

"My birthday was last week. I've just turned." She said softly. 

"For the next year" the old man finished. "Unless, of course, you don't think he'd do you a favor." 

"I'll go, I'm goin', I'm gone." Grumbled Rosco leaving the house. He came right back in a few moments later. "You, uh, Annabelle. Come'ere." 

The girl followed, waving a goodbye to the small family. "Thanks for lookin' after me, y'all." She said. "I'll come visit." 

The ride in the patrol car was awkwardly silent until Annabelle asked, "Your friend, who we're goin' to see- is he a rich man?" 

"Richest in the county." Was the short reply. 

"What's your dog's name?" She asked, glancing back to the back seat where a somber-eyed basset hound lay, watching. 

"Flash. He's the 'ficial police dog. Since I'm sheriff I take care of him. He's nice. Not real good for anything police-related, though." 

"The Dukes said y'all ain't on kind terms." She remarked. This earned a sigh from the officer. 

"The Duke family and the police force never have got along. Them boys, Bo and Luke, they just add to the problem. Always borderline breakin' their probation, leadin' me into wrecks... They's bad news, Annabelle." He explained. 

"Why do you chase 'em? You know where the farm is, so why don't you just go there and wait?" She asked. 

"Jesse'd radio 'em and tell 'em I was there so they'd stay away." 

"What about the other officer- the one on patrol?" 

"Enos? He ain't good for dealin' with 'em. He's got a crush on Daisy Duke, for one, and for another, he's friends with the boys- he's just Daisy's age, I believe, which is... I dunno, I think two years older'n Bo only, so they grew up together." 

Annabelle shook her head almost sorrowfully. "This county is a mess, ain't it?"


	2. The Ridge Road Problem

It had been about three weeks since Annabelle had been (very reluctantly and with some threats on the part of Jesse Duke) put up in the local hotel for a month, to give her new guardian time to adjust his own living quarters to take her and the baby. Presently, Annabelle was, at her own insistence, accompanying her great Uncle Rosco to the police station to watch him work. 

"I ain't never been in a police station before, even if my brother does work in Detroit!" She chirped, grinning. She had Richie in his bundle on her back where he seemed to be happy and most importantly to the adult in the car, quiet. 

"Why ain't you with your brother, then?" Asked Rosco, who had been trying to find ways to get rid of his new charge for the entire three weeks she'd been in Hazzard. 

"'Cuz the state suh-stipulated that I gotta come here since it was in the will, and that's the law and the law's to be listened to no matter what, ain't it?" She replied, grinning. 

"Most of the time, yes." 

"What's the exceptions?" 

"When the law stops bein' on your side, I learned it's alright to disobey a lil' bit." 

"That's the 'corrupted' thing the Duke boys was talkin' about on my way up here, ain't it?" She asked, concerned. Richie let out a small sleepy _"ah"_ and Flash snorted in a friendly dog way. 

"Corrupted is really a strong word, and look, you get all scared jus' thinkin' about it," Rosco quickly explained, "You can always trust them Duke boys to make newcomers scared of the law, that's fer sure." 

"I mean, I ain't scared, but... I dunno. The world's real complicated." Annabelle sighed, shaking her head. Her hair was back up in the fishtail braid she liked it as, and Richie batted at it sleepily. She sighed again, and changed the subject. "How long can a moonshiner be put in jail for?" She asked. 

"I dunno, maybe five years if they caused enough havoc runnin' it. The Duke boys are lookin' two years in the face if they break probation. Once I made a kid go in the army 'cuz he was only your age." 

"My mama and daddy ain't moonshiners, if it's only five years, then. They've been in there most of my life." Annabelle observed. "I ain't even been in to see 'em ever." 

"Maybe you ought'a look into it, then. We got lots of records at the station." Rosco suggested, then sighed to himself, "ought'a keep you outta the way, anyways..." 

"Maybe I should. And I'll bet I could request the imprisonment records from Tennessee State too, huh?" She said excitedly. 

"Don't get ahead of yourself, now," came the slightly weary reply. 

Once they had arrived at the station, which was deserted save for the one deputy, whom upon seeing Annabelle had many questions. 

"Mornin', sheriff!" He greeted, then smiled at Annabelle, "Mornin' to you too, miss! What're you doin' out here, huh?" 

"I'm followin' my great-uncle to work!" She explained happily. 

"Hey, you're that girl who came all the way from Memphis and's stayin' in the hotel, ain't you?" 

"Yup, that's me! My name's Annabelle and my baby is Richie!" She said, trying to seem as cute as she could. Of course, the other in the room did notice this. 

"Don't waste yer time with Enos, Annabelle. He's only got eyes for that Daisy Duke!" He said almost laughing. 

"Daisy's real pretty but I dunno if I only got eyes for her I-" Enos started, face turning red. 

"Aw, shut it, Enos. The entire county knows you've liked her since you were knee-high." Snorted the superior officer. He turned to Annabelle as Enos squeaked out a 'yessir' and shut up, "You stay outta trouble. I'm goin' on a patrol." 

"Wah!" Called out the baby as Annabelle waved her guardian off. 

"Aww, I'll be fine! How much trouble can I get into in a lil' bitty town anyways?" 

"Sure, alright." Was the reply which was the less-eloquent way of saying _how much trouble indeed?_ "Stay away from them Dukes and you should be alright. Trouble seems to follow 'em like the plague," were the sheriff's parting words to his charge, and she was left alone. 

"So, uh, wanna tell me where the files are, so I can look up my mama and daddy?" Annabelle asked the deputy. 

"Yeah, they're in the sheriff's office, which I 'spose you can go into, if you're his family and all, I bet he won't mind it." He answered. "Also I really ain't weird about Daisy I just think she's real pretty and just about every boy in town thinks that!" 

"I think it's kinda cute that you've had a crush so long." Annabelle said with her flirty smile in place as she ducked into the office. She set the baby in a chair so he could observe her and smiled. "I'll give you your bottle after I get the files, hun." 

The girl stood on her tiptoes to reach the top of the cabinet drawers, rifling through them. Out of curiosity she picked out two labelled with the Dukes' names as well as one simply marked with her last name, and set them on the desk. After the chore of feeding the baby, who was once again asleep, she hung his carrier on the door so as to keep an eye on him, and started looking through the files. She started with the one marked as her name and found records on her family since her great-uncle had come to the town up until she'd shown up a month ago. 

"Let's see... old train tickets and records... wow, only eight when he came here... wonder if my great-aunt still lives here... Umm, ah, Terrance Coltrane... one son... one granddaughter under custody after both parents convicted of- Oh my God..." She breathed, looking at the paper. 

"Miss Annabelle?" Called out Enos suddenly, and a very shaken Annabelle appeared, after stuffing the file into the baby's diaper bag for good measure. She'd forgotten completely about her plan to snoop through the Duke boys' files in her shock, and left them on the desk. 

"Yes?" She asked, taking a slow, quiet breath. 

"Wanna sit out here for a bit? It's awful lonely and I suspect you sorta like me enough. I mean, no one really _doesn't_ like me..." 

"Yeah, I'll sit out here." She agreed, thankful for the opportunity to distract herself. "So, uh... how'd you end up here? A deputy in a lil' dirt town." 

"Well, I moved here when my dad got a job in Clearview, which is a while East of Hazzard, and I always wanted to be somethin' important, since my dad was an officer, I thought I'd do it too, and so I got posted back here 'cuz I grew up here." He explained. 

"How'd you get acquainted with the Duke family?" She asked, recalling how she herself had been. 

"Oh, I was maybe third grade and Bo was first and Luke was sixth and some big boys were pushin' me around and they helped me and took me to meet their girl cousin Daisy so I'd have a friend." He grinned at her, "What about you?"   
 

"I got caught on my way down here sleepin' in the backseat of the boys' car. I overslept and they were on the road when I woke up." She said, still smiling in a flirty way. "I was scared out of my mind but they was real nice and took me here. I sorta like the blond one." 

"Well, miss, I'd guess you just gotta get in line behind every other girl in Hazzard, then!" Enos laughed. "It about drives Luke crazy that Bo always gets the girls!" 

"Well, I mean, I like Luke too, but... he's so much more... grounded. I dunno. I'd like a guy who'll take me out at night and, I dunno, climb a tree, go swim in a lake, stick his dumb head out the car window while I steer... I want adventure." She finally settled on. "I don't wanna be just the girl who got a baby at sixteen and married and settled down with some guy in a nice lil' house in a nice lil' town in nice lil' Georgia, y'know?" 

"I'd like it if I didn't have to always chase down folks... Wish they'd just come with us. I sure ain't gonna hurt nobody unless they hurt us first." 

"You wanna settle down and be quiet, and I wanna be able to jump and shout again." Annabelle said with a sigh. "Guess you don't always get what you want in life, huh?" 

"I guess so, miss." 

Just then a series of notes happened. Enos tipped his head to one side, a grin spreading across his face as Annabelle looked towards the source of the noise in confusion. 

"That's the General Lee's horn!" Enos explained, then grinned harder at Annabelle's continued confusion. "Bo and Luke's car! Let's go see what they're up to- it's always excitin'!" He stopped just by the door as Annabelle hoisted her baby onto her back again. "And miss Annabelle, I gotta say, you look an awful lot like Sheriff Rosco when you're all confused like that!" 

The two realized right away that something was off, from the worried way the boys got out of their car. In fact, Luke stayed in, tending to something in the backseat. 

"Enos! We need help, we saw a car wreck, on that danged Ridge Road, and then the cruiser chasin' it went over too, and they ran off, but Rosco's real hurt, we need help!" 

"Why didn't y'all call the ambulance!" Enos yelped, rushing over to the orange car and grabbing the radio transmitter. "Deputy Enos Strate here, please get an ambulance to the station, and hurry, the sheriff's real, real hurt, over!" 

"'Cuz Luke said we should come here where there's medical stuff first!" The very distraught Bo explained.  

"Also we're closer to the hospital in town." Luke explained, oddly calm despite the fact he appeared to have blood smeared on the front of his shirt. 

"I'm just real scared, and I wanna go on record sayin' it ain't our fault, Enos, it ain't! We was gettin' wood for the fence and we just saw the crash and we went to help, alright?" The blond insisted. From the way the others moved around him, Annabelle figured he was not very good in a major crisis, ever. 

"I'll make sure to write it down." she said practically. "It counts in court if it's written and signed by three witnesses, and there's three of us here." 

"What? Rosco!? You there!?" Crackled a voice over the radio. Luke answered, keeping one hand down, obviously holding a compress on something. "Luke Duke here, Boss, and Rosco's hurt. He got in a wreck and me and Bo took him back to town." 

"I'll bet he was wrecked chasin' after you two!" Shouted the radio voice. 

"It honestly wasn't us this time!" Luke argued, glancing down at what he was doing. "We saw the wreck and went to help! It was a blue 50s Cadillac that was gettin' chased, I remember, 'cuz Bo and me were commenting on how it was all outta place but real nice to look at when it went by." 

"A blue Cadillac?" Came the voice again after some hesitation. 

"Yeah, that's what I said." Luke replied impatiently. There were sirens in the distance, indicating the approaching ambulance. 

"What happened to them?" 

"I dunno, they ran off! Now I'm handin' the receiver to Bo 'cuz I gotta stop this bleedin', but _it wasn't our fault!_ " The dark-haired one almost growled, handing the receiver out the window to his blond cousin. 

"H-hey, you heard Luke- it ain't our fault, honest!" He greeted into the receiver. 

"What? Bo? Are you boys alright?" Crackled a familiar voice over the radio. 

"Jesse, I have reason to believe your boys impaired the law when it was chasin' two wanted murderers, who then, as Luke told it, 'ran off.'" Boss explained over his own radio. 

"I know they didn't!" Jesse argued. "Bo, tell me where you are and what happened." 

"W-well, we was jus' goin' to get the wood, like you said to, Uncle Jesse, but then we saw this real nice Cadillac and stopped to admire it, but then it was bein' chased by Rosco, and then we saw 'em both go over the ridge, and so we stopped to help and the ones in the Cadillac were gone already so we went to the patrol car and Rosco's real hurt and so we're at the station waitin' for the ambulance right now 'cuz Luke said to go into town so they'd find us." The blond said very quickly. There was silence over the radio, and then a figure appeared across the street and headed over. 

"Hey, ya'll. I heard there was somethin' goin' on over the Network. What happened?" He asked. 

"I heard it too!" Daisy agreed, jumping out of her jeep. "I came right over here when I heard there was a wreck!" 

Annabelle, during all of this, peered into the car window, a first-aid kit in hand. Luke was holding a rag to a cut on Rosco's shoulder, while the sheriff seemed to be only partially conscious. 

"Hey, I found this inside," Annabelle said softly, holding up the kit. "Will it help?" 

"Yeah, thanks." Luke agreed, taking the kit. "Now I actually have trauma pads and stuff." 

"Where'd you learn how to do first-aid?" Annabelle asked. 

"Most boys in Hazzard were at one time or another part of Boy Scout Troop 8, and we learn that stuff there." 

"You learned how to deal with a big, gushin' cut on an arm in boy scouts?" 

"Alright, you got me. It's the army trainin'. They teach you trauma aid when you join the marines. I don't like usin' it 'cuz it's just a reminder of how the government took me away and didn't give me back 'til I was half dead." He explained. 

"Well I think we're real lucky to have you and your trainin' here today." Annabelle said, forcing a smile. "Can I help?" 

"Seeing if we can get him sitting up'll help the bleeding." Luke suggested. Annabelle crawled into the window and soon was on the other side of her great-uncle, and together, the two managed to get him sitting up in the seat. 

"There, see? That ain't so bad!" Annabelle said, smiling as prettily as she could at her guardian. 

"Wha- Annabelle?" He asked, starting to come to his senses a bit. "What're you doin' here?" 

"Helpin'," she said matter-of-factly. 

"Helpin' with what? What happened? Ow!" The officer tried to get up and found his injured arm. 

"You got in a wreck." Luke offered. "Me and Bo happened to be drivin' by when we saw it, so we stopped to help. We got back to the station and there's an ambulance comin' now, so we're just tryin' to stop your bleedin'." 

"I'll be fine. Just get me outta here!" Rosco complained, having realized he was in the boys' car. 

"I guess you'll have to come out one way or another," snorted Luke. "Better to do it now while you're awake to help. It was a hassle gettin' you in here when you were unconscious anyway." 

So, as the ambulance pulled up, Annabelle and Luke helped Rosco out the window of the car and to the steps of the police station, onlookers staring. 

"Nothin' to see here. Now shoo. Git." Rosco waved off the small crowd with his good arm. They didn't move. "Wait, where's Flash?" He suddenly stopped, realizing the basset hound wasn't shuffling around his feet. 

"We did put him in the car with us." Luke responded in a calming way. "He's probably just asleep under the seat." 

"Just like that dang dog," said Rosco, somewhat disgruntled. 

"Is 'mildly irritated' the default for you?" Asked Annabelle. 

"Only when there's a Duke around, Annabelle." He responded, looking pointedly at Luke, who stuck out his tongue in a very uncharacteristically childish manner. 

The paramedics set to tending to the wound on the sheriff's shoulder, the dog was retrieved from the car and lapped happily at his owner's hand, and Enos tried dispersing the crowd in a very polite way. 

"Please, y'all, it ain't polite to stare. Please move along, please?" He pleaded. 

"Aw, you won't get 'em anywhere bein' like that!" Laughed Bo, recovering very fast from the shakiness the past hour had brought to him, now that it didn't seem imminent to witness someone's death. He overturned a trash bin and climbed up on top of it. "Hey, ya'll!" He called out, and the entire crowd turned to stare at him. "Watch this instead'a that!" 

He then jumped through the window, and sounding the General Lee's horn, took off around the square and managed to impress the crowd with several different tricks. 

"That's our Bo, always grabbin' for attention!" Laughed Daisy as she watched her cousin perform his tricks. 

"Wow, that boy sure can drive." Breathed Annabelle. 

"You stay away from him. Them Duke boys are never good news." Rosco chastised her. 

"They saved your life!" Annabelle argued. 

"Rosco, are you alright!?" Yelled a woman. 

"Ack! Lulu, leggo!" The sheriff responded as he was roughly hugged by the offending, rather large lady. 

"I always knew you'd get in a wreck, speedin' all over heck and back! You're just a baby!" She insisted, tightening her grip. 

"Ow! My arm!" He complained, pushing her off. "And I'm only two years younger, and I outrank you anyways, so, so... So!" 

"That's enough, pumpkin. Leave him be so the paramedics can do their job. I dunno what I'll do if he dies." Said the man accompanying her. She backed off at this and wagged a finger in the sheriff's face. 

"You just be more careful, y'hear?" She warned. 

"I'm careful!" He insisted. "You know darn well how tricky the ridge is!" 

"Oh, I know! It's just awful, ain't it?" She agreed. She turned to who was obviously her husband. "J.D., you've gotta build a rail there or something! I won't tolerate my baby brother endangerin' himself in a preventable way, alright!?" 

"But, sweet, that costs nearly five hundred dollars a yard!" He complained. 

"I don't care! Would you rather spend the money or would you rather I know the rest of _your_ life that it's your fault Rosco got himself killed?" 

"I ain't got myself killed yet, though." Rosco observed almost proudly, but quietly. Annabelle rolled her eyes and got a teasing smack on the arm for it. 

"Please?" Pleaded the woman. 

"Alright, alright, I'll see what I can do," the man finally sighed. 

"You better uphold your word, J.D.," commanded the voice of Jesse Duke, who had just arrived on the scene. "That ridge has been too dangerous for too long." 

"Yes, yes, I know, your whole family died on that ridge, I know it, Jesse. I said I'd look into it!" The other insisted. 

"I agree with Uncle Jesse, Boss. You shouldn't just look into it. You should do it." Luke said, coming up behind his uncle. "Maybe the orphanage would be less full if you did. It'd be good PR at least, and I know how much you want people to think you're great." 

"Luke, for the last time, mind your tongue." Warned Jesse. "But he's right. It would look great for you as the commissioner if you solved the problem of the dangerous ridge." 

"That it would..." Boss said to himself, nodding. "Alright. I re-thought it and I'll do it, if y'all can raise the money yourselves." 

"Aw, that ain't fair." Bo complained. "He knows we ain't rich!" 

"I think if we get a donation pool going we can do it! We need... Well, how long is the dangerous road?" Annabelle asked thoughtfully. 

"I dunno, like three cars." Bo said lamely. 

"One big turn." Offered Rosco. 

"It's that giant hill out by the Duke farm, right before Ridge turns into Millpond." Lulu informed her, then did a double-take. "Who are you anyway? You look very much like Rosco. Are you his?" 

"What!?" Both the girl and the sheriff cried out, before Annabelle explained, 

"I'm livin' here with my great-uncle Rosco here 'cuz my grandpapa died and my parents are in prison." 

"Well howdy-do there, then. I'm Rosco's big sister- your great aunt." She introduced herself. 

"I'm Annabelle, and the baby is Richie." Annabelle responded. 

"Hey, let's go measure the ridge!" Suggested the man from across the street, who had been rummaging around in his parking lot and garage until then. "I found a yardstick!" 

Everyone cheered loudly.


	3. The Reason For the Fence

"104 yards of unsafe road." Annabelle observed, looking at the marks in the side that had been made by their measuring. "That makes it... Hmm... At 500 dollars a yard..." She used a stick to scratch out the arithmetic in the dirt. "fifty-thousand, two-hundred dollars total." She finally concluded, looking at the rest of the group. 

"I got a ten dollar tip from these shady-lookin' guys the other day." Daisy Duke offered. 

"I have... twenty and... eleven cents on me." Cooter Davenport reported. 

"I found a dollar in my other pants." Bo said, a half-grin in place. 

"And I've got the other nine of the ten Bo thinks he lost." Luke sighed. 

"Oh, wow, I was wonderin'…" the younger remarked, looking at his older cousin. 

"Daisy, you need to start checkin' pants better before you wash 'em." Suggested the older. 

"I think I got the idea after the third time I washed Bo's keys." The girl responded. "And one time when you were little, Bo, you left a cookie in your pocket and messed up the entire wash!" 

"Outta sight, outta mind, right? But I guess it ain't the same as outta sight, outta _pocket._ " The blond defended himself, which lead to some playful groans and swats from his cousins. 

"Anyway," Annabelle sighed, "I don't know if we can get that much money up." She kicked at the dust. "How important even is this dumb fence?" 

"If there was a 'dumb fence' here to start with, then maybe all our parents'd still be alive." Luke said, almost bitterly. 

"They died on the ridge?" Annabelle asked no-one in particular. 

"I was eight when it happened, and in the truck... If there'd been a fence, we wouldn't've gone over." The dark-haired one explained, sitting in the dust at the side of the road, looking over the ridge. Annabelle fell silent for a while. In fact, they all did, thinking.  

Annabelle had been only three when she'd moved with her grandfather, and so she hardly remembered her parents at all. She could see, however, what Luke felt. He'd been eight years old- old enough to remember the wreck, and more importantly, old enough to remember his family. She supposed he knew how soft his mother held him, or how it felt to be picked up and spun around by his dad, and well, the thought probably messed with him sometimes. So, she sat down next to him and just looked, trying to visualize what he was remembering. 

There were probably police cars and ambulances everywhere, and it was probably at night. There was a smoking, banged up truck laying on the hill's bottom after tumbling down, and probably just about where they sat, a child Luke Duke stood in torn, dirty clothes and watched them take his family away on stretchers. Of course, Annabelle then looked over to the adult Luke and saw the way his blue-green eyes were a bit clouded over, and almost teary. She put an arm around him, and thought carefully before she spoke. 

"I was three when my parents went to prison. I guess it ain't the same as 'em dyin', but I sure ain't seen 'em since." 

"Yeah... I'm alright, though. It's been more'n twenty years... It'll get better." He nearly whispered. 

The group decided that heading back would be good for them, and on the way, Bo stopped as he was about to get into the car. 

"Hey, Luke, you wanna drive?" He asked, giving a half-grin. 

"Yeah, sure." Agreed the older, "But don't you go tellin' me I'm doin' it all wrong this time!"


	4. Annabelle Has A Plan

"I've got it!" Annabelle announced to everyone in the police station, which was her baby, Enos and a half-asleep Rosco, who startled awake and off his chair at her loud voice. 

"Got what?" Enos asked as he helped his superior back into the chair. Rosco had ten stitches in his shoulder and a bulky bandage and sling to go with it, so getting upright was a little hard without help. 

"I got how we're gonna get the money for the ridge fence!" She said just as enthusiastically. She got up and with a very confident stride walked over to the desk and slapped a paper down on it. "We need to do _this._ " 

Her sky-blue eyes glowed as the two officers looked at the paper. 

"Annabelle, no... We shouldn't go chasin' rainbows and unicorns and such..." Rosco said gently. 

"It ain't like that, Unk." Annabelle said, proudly. "You know why?" 

"Why?" Enos helpfully asked. 

"'Cuz them two unicorns is what caused Great-uncle Rosco's accident, Enos." She said, very very pleased with herself. She pointed at the paper, a wanted poster for Dice Dawson and Kitkat Carson- two suspected murderers who, according to Annabelle's research paper she'd written out had three things they wanted.  

An hour and several CB calls later, Annabelle had everyone gathered in a conference room whom was important to the Ridge Road project This included the Duke family, Rosco and Enos, Cooter, and of course, the commissioner, Boss. She wrote each important point on the blackboard as she explained it. The first point was "Location." 

"You see," she started, grinning, "I looked at lots of the reports and such of seein' these two, and I found that they started in Alabama, then went to Arkansas, then Florida. Now, that's all Southern states, and that's all in alphabetical order. I suspect they was here in Georgia 'cuz it's next on the list." 

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone knows that!" Boss complained. He was shushed by everyone except Rosco, who looked at Annabelle, then his friend and then  at everyone watching him, and adjusted his sling. 

"Everyone knows that, Annabelle, hun." He repeated for her, albeit more gently than Boss had. "They’re called the Dixie Alphabet Killers, y'know." 

"Well, that ain't all. They're comin' all the way out here 'cuz it's their pattern. Kitkat asks for the cutest boy in town and then she takes him out to a farm and kills him, and at the same time, Dice is takin' the loveliest girl out and doin' the same." Annabelle explained. "I remember readin' a news report from Sweetwater that says somethin' to the effect of the town's darlin' boy and girl bein' killed in the woods of the town. " 

"I remember that." Agreed the sheriff. "That's why I went to patrol up near there." 

"Also, they got a hundred-thousand dollar reward-" 

Boss banged his fist down on the table suddenly, startling everyone with his sudden interest in the meeting. "Then we gotta find them killers! Rosco, set up a road block- nobody gets in or out of the county. You- Annabelle, make sure you don't tell no-one about this- this is my- … our reward! You Dukes don't tell no-one neither." 

Annabelle looked across the table with more than a bit of distaste as she wrote "Reward" on the blackboard. "I think we could take the fifty-thousand we need to fix the ridge from that money, and divide the rest among each other. That'd be... Oh, I dunno, 'leven-thousand for each group- me and Unk, the Duke family, Cooter's family, if he's got one, and Boss's family too." She turned to her great-uncle, "We could put some away for me to buy a house when I turn of age, and use some to pay the rest of my way in the hotel until then." 

"I could get that new engine upgrade for the General!" Bo agreed, looking at his family, grinning. 

"I could get that nice typewriter I always wanted." Daisy mused. 

"We could help Uncle Jesse pay more of the farm mortgage." Luke said, putting a hand on his uncle's shoulder. 

"Aw, Luke, you're so boring!" Complained Bo. "You could buy nearly anything in the whole world and you wanna make farm payments!" 

"Alright, I guess goin' on a vacation'd be nice." He admitted. "Maybe New Orleans..." 

"As commissioner I hardly think it fair to divide the reward of criminals in _my_ county-" Boss started, but Jesse shut him up with a look. 

"You just want that hundred-thousand in your own greedy little hands!" Jesse accused. "Well I think Annabelle has a great idea. Anyway, you're gettin' extra money from her boardin' in the hotel, y'know." 

"And we can fix the ridge!" Annabelle agreed. 

"Rosco, what do you say about this, bein' the spearhead of this here Ridge Road project with your arm and all?" Boss said, as if he knew what the answer would be. What the sheriff said, however, shocked him. 

"To be honest, Boss, I think we ought'a use that money to fix up the ridge. It _is_ awful dangerous." 

"What?! How could you agree with the _Dukes_!?" Boss roared, outraged. 

"Now, look here!" Rosco nearly shouted, standing up in a hurry to face his friend, knocking the chair over in the process. "You weren't out there when I went over, so you ain't got room to say nothin'! Heck, you weren't there twenty years ago when we was chasin' the Duke family's truck and we saw _them_ go over! You didn't have'ta look into lil' Luke Duke's eyes, only eight years old he was, and tell him his mama and daddy and aunts and uncles were all dead! You didn't have'ta pry baby Bo Duke from his dead mama's arms in a smokin' wreck of a truck 'cuz the last thing she did in this life was hold her baby boy close to save 'im, or see how Jesse Duke's face fell when he heard all of 'em were dead, no you didn't, so you ain't got room to talk, and I say we fix that Ridge Road so that as long as I'm here and as long as I'm sheriff, I don't never have to do any of that stuff again!" 

It was a quiet and subdued Boss Hogg who agreed that it really would be nicer if they went ahead and used the money to put up the Ridge Road fence, and anyone who thought otherwise really was _awful_ selfish.


	5. Catching the Killers

"Annabelle, you're smart," Rosco began, standing straight and tall at the roadblock. "What's the first rule to search and catch a criminal in a rural settin'?" 

Annabelle grinned and adjusted her new deputy's hat. She'd been enacted a temporary deputy by her great-uncle and was very pleased about it. She also seemed to be getting a bit of on-the-job training along with it. "First off, you gotta block the roads in and out of the county," she thought on the next one, "Second, you gotta get jeeps in to sweep the wooded areas, then you gotta patrol the roads, and last, you gotta go into all the businesses in plain clothes and look for 'em!" She wrinkled her nose up. "But Unk, there's only three in the department, countin' me!" 

"Five if we count Cletus and Hughie Hogg who work with me sometimes. They're Boss's nephews, and they're off with Enos." Rosco corrected. "But we _are_ awful small. That's why we got civilians helpin' us." 

"Like how Daisy Duke and Cooter Davenport are doin' the woods sweep with a jeep she owns and a one he found in the junkyard?"  

"Yup." 

"And how it's the job of Bo and Luke and their drag-racin' friends to patrol the roads 'cuz they all got fast cars?" 

"Yup." 

"And how Jesse's on the business search?" 

"That's right. You _are_ awful smart! Don't get that from me, that's fer sure!" 

Annabelle beamed. She adjusted her baby's bundle on her back. He was wearing a tiny outfit Daisy had found in the clothing shop which was sewn to look just like the uniform Annabelle wore. She reached for the CB radio in the police car, announcing to the entire Network with a lilt  very similar to her great uncle's proud proclamations, 

"This here's Deputy Anna-belle Col-trane, come back with ya'll's positions!" 

"Luke Duke here, Annabelle, and since when are you a deputy?" he snorted over the radio. 

"Since Unk made me one, Luke! What's your position?" 

"Bo and me are makin' our way around Ridge Road which turns into Millpond and then Oak, and then back into East Ridge. He says he wants me to tell you that he wants to stop for a drink real fast at the Boar's Nest." The older Duke boy reported, the scuffling background noises seeming to indicate the blond trying to wrestle the radio from his cousin's hand. "He says you're invited to join us as they serve soda-pops there too!" It seemed the blond had succeeded as he complained over the radio, 

"I didn't say that, that's Luke tryin' to embarrass me!" 

"Well I'm on 'ficial business right now, boys, so maybe another time, and when I'm another age!" She laughed over the radio. "Everyone else, give your positions!" 

"We're doin' great up here, Annabelle!" Daisy announced. 

"I found a squirrel in the glove box, but it ran off!" Laughed Cooter. "Old cars are fun that way, haha!" 

"There ain't nothin' happenin' on this side'a town, Annabelle!" Enos said cheerfully. 

"Nothin's happened so far!" Annabelle announced to her great-uncle enthusiastically. Then, she sat on the hood of the patrol car. "Hey, can I ask somethin'?" 

"Go ahead, jus' don't take yer eyes off the roads." Rosco told her. 

"How'd you get involved with someone like Boss? I mean, no offense, since ya'll's friends, and I guess he's my great-uncle too, since he's married a great-aunt, but I don't like him very much. How'd that happen between y'all?" 

He thought for a while before answering, but then did: 

"Well, Annabelle, it was a real long time ago. The reason I don't live up in Memphis still is 'cuz, well, me and Lulu are the youngest of ten, and back when we was all kids, Mama and Daddy couldn't take care of us 'cuz of the Depression, so I was about eight when we came down here, and Lulu was ten- her full name's Lucille, by the by, in case you wondered, and well, kids picked on us 'cuz we was poor and lived with our Auntie Millie instead'a our parents, they called us "Temp-urchins" the same as if we were 'bandoned in the orphanage. But Boss warn't like that. I guess he kinda picked me to be alright too, 'cuz he sure was mean to some'a them orphanage kids sometimes..." 

"I see," Annabelle replied. "y'all were friends as kids and then... Did you ever go back to Memphis?" 

"For a while. Got my first post up in Nashville- the inner-city part. All them ghettos and kids with guns and all that. Scary stuff. I kinda lied about bein' sixteen when I went to the academy so I couldn'a been more than eighteen, seein' all that stuff..." Her guardian answered, good hand fingering the gun in his belt. "Never could shoot 'em, even if I was gonna get shot myself. Always got too nervous. Still do, most times." 

Annabelle looked over her great-uncle's face and noticed the way his blue eyes seemed to be clouded over, the same as Luke's had been up on the ridge. She knew it to be a look of someone who was lost in memories. She stayed quiet and tried to hear the echo of police sirens, of gunshots and everything she knew about big city police from TV shows, but that she was sure was playing in Rosco's mind. She then made a connection, and voiced it hoping for some confirmation: 

"So you got sick of all them bad ghetto kids and came back here where it's little and quiet, and Boss is the commissioner, and so he got you posted 'cuz you're his friend?" 

"That's about right. I made sheriff right away since I'm real good at the job and nobody really wants to stay in Hazzard for too long, since it's awful boring, and then the stupid government wanted to take away pension for policemen in Georgia and so now I'm here for a while." He finished the story, with a deft nod as if he'd accepted that he was in fact stuck in the same post in Hazzard for the rest of his life. 

"I guess it ain't all _bad_ here." Annabelle decided, scanning the horizon of the road. They sat like that, in the sticky-warm afternoon for a while before the radio went crazy. 

"Annabelle! Annabelle! Come on, you were just here!" Said the voice. Annabelle jumped off the hood of the car but didn't quite manage to get to the CB before her great-uncle. 

"Luke? That you?" He asked, trying to confirm the familiar voice. 

"Yeah, it's me, Rosco, and I dunno that you can hear all them engines but we're all six of us chasin' a banged-up blue Cadillac down towards you and Annabelle! We'd appreciate if ya'll'd head down and we can corner 'em! Daisy and Cooter too!" Luke responded. 

Annabelle whooped and jumped into the passenger seat of the patrol car at that, but Rosco stopped her before she shut the door. 

"You stay at the roadblock. It's too dangerous for Richie and he needs his mama." 

"Aww, Unk!" She protested, "it ain't dangerous! 'Sides, while you were talkin' I gave off Richie to Mrs. Handel on that farm over there. She said she'd watch him since she's got three girls his age!" 

"I ain't gonna question how you managed that, instead we're gonna go git 'em!" Rosco nearly cheered, almost childishly excited at the prospect. 

The two headed off in the direction of the cars and soon, on the horizon they saw a blue Cadillac and six stock cars hot on its tail. Annabelle took up the CB and called out, 

"Enos! Cletus! Hughie! Ya'll come on and help us here! We got 'em! We're by the other end of the roadblock!" 

Soon the stock cars and police cruisers had the car surrounded, and they stopped in a circle, like a photo of a wagon train. The man and woman in the car got out, guns drawn and were greeted with three hunting rifles, two bows and arrow and five pistols. 

"Kinda silly to have a little pistol like that in a farmin' town, huh?" Remarked Bo, grinning as the girl looked at him. His expression changed to a startled one. "Hey, you're the one who offered to meet me in the woods for a picnic today- last night!" 

"That's 'cuz every girl in town pointed to cute blondie Bo Duke as the best boy in town- and we hate the best boys and girls." The girl spat back. 

"Yeah, but why?" Luke asked, lowering his bow a bit. 

"'Cuz we weren't ever popular in Alabama where we grew up." The man said bitterly. 

"Well, there's our motive!" Cheered Rosco. "Enos, arrest 'em!" 

Dice lunged suddenly and caught Annabelle, holding the gun to her head. "Try it, and the girl's brains go everywhere." 

"Unk! Help!" Annabelle yelped. 

"Unk?" Smirked Kitkat, "So she matters to you, huh? Guess y'all better let us go! And... Give us a nice fifty thousand to fix up our car and get us outta here before you get her back." 

The circle could only back up and let the criminals out with Annabelle looking very upset at her great uncle, who called out, 

"Now Annabelle, you do what they say, and we'll get you back, y'hear? Just don't get hurt!" 

With that, the circle was left standing around, wondering what else they could do. Eventually the crowd came down to the Dukes, Enos and Rosco pacing back and forth in the small indent he'd made in the dirt road and thinking. 

"God dangit... God... Dangit..." He muttered as he paced. "Put me in charge of her and now lookit what I've gone and done... Got her kidnapped in a month. God dangit..." 

"Rosco, we could help, y'know." Luke offered. "'Cuz they might still off her even if we give 'em the money, so our best bet is a rescue plan." 

"I don't need you Dukes' help." The sheriff responded huffily. 

"Y'know it ain't our fault." Bo said, watching Rosco pace. 

"That danged Ridge Road..." He huffed, getting more agitated by the second. He eventually sat on the bumper of General Lee, massaging his arm over the sling. "Hurts..." He said, glancing at it. "Bleedin' again too. God dangit all." 

"Uh, that ain't exactly normal," Jesse remarked. "Luke, have a look." 

"Yeah, alright." Luke said, looking the arm under the bandages over. "You're alright. Just calm down so your blood pressure don't go so high. That ain't good for you in general, y'know." Rosco responded by flopping backwards onto the hood of the car, legs hanging over the side. 

"What'm I gonna do?" 

"Well, we've gotten people back from worse situations then this!" Bo said, grinning. "We can help Annabelle!" 

"Hey Rosco, remember the time Bo was held by them bank robbers and you helped him out?" Daisy asked. 

"Lil' troublemaker about got me fired." The sheriff agreed. 

"Aw, come on!" Bo complained. "Anyway, if Luke'd been there we would'a had me out in no time! Nobody makes rescue plans like him!" 

"I guess I ain't got no choice, if I want Annabelle back safe..." Rosco finally conceded, falling back onto the hood of the car. "God dangit..." 


	6. Crisis Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter this time. Next few are longer.

It was another crisis meeting, only this time in the Duke family sitting room. Somehow Luke had gotten a large blackboard which he had rolled into the room and explained as everyone stared. 

"Me and Bo found this in the cellar. It's that ol' board we used to plan out moonshine runs." He flipped it over. "Look, it's still got that one from three years ago!" 

Bo pointed at a spot. "The engine of that ol' car died here. I would'a made it if that hadn't happened!" 

"I still think if you hadn't'a swerved all those times you did..." Complained the older. 

"Have I ever told y'all how much Luke hates my drivin', and yet how much he lets me do it anyway?" 

"That's 'cuz you're the world's worst back-seat driver! 'Luke! Look out for that pothole! No, Luke, the other one! For gosh's sake, Luke! Look at the dang intersections! Luke! Stop it! Bleh!'" mimicked Luke, sticking his tongue out at his cousin. By this time everyone, including the blond himself was laughing. Composing himself, Bo replied to his cousin's teasing. 

"I," he started, voice breaking just a little as he tried not to crack up again, "do not sound like that." 

"Why don't we focus on saving Annabelle?" Daisy offered, breaking up the boys' mock-argument. "Draw your plan on the board, Luke." 

The group set to work, talking and correcting, occasionally bickering, but all in all wanting to save the girl from the two murderers.


	7. Annabelle Makes the Best of Things

Annabelle looked out the window of the tiny motel. She knew it as the one she'd first gone into, just outside the county limits, all those weeks ago when she'd first come into what she now considered her home. She wondered very hard if her baby was okay. Maybe, she thought to herself, they'd let her at least figure out her baby's situation. 

"'Scuse me?" She called out to her guard- Kitkat. The woman looked up in surprise, as this was the first time the girl had spoken since being locked in this room. 

"What ya' want, hun?" She asked, studying the girl carefully. Annabelle decided to turn on the tearfulness. 

"Please, miss, you gotta let me check up on my baby, Richie! I promise I won't run away, but let me make sure my baby's okay, please!" She pleaded, letting tears come from her blue eyes freely. "Oh, please! He's only a baby!" 

"I'll send Dice for him, dear. Where's he at?" 

Annabelle relaxed at the seeming compliance of her captors to this. "He's at the farm on the other end of the county. I left him with the old woman there. Here, show her this so she knows I sent you." She handed Dice, who had appeared in the doorway a train ticket. "It's my only form of ID for right now." She explained. "See? It's got my name right there- Annabelle Coltrane." 

"Alright. I guess we can raise the ransom a whole lot for both you and the baby!" Dice laughed as he left. Annabelle suddenly realized her mistake. 

"S-so? You do that, and y'all'll see that my great-uncle's best friend'll pay up anything you want! They's best friends so-so-so... SO!" She shouted as the door shut. She sat on the bed closest to the window and massaged her temples, utterly loathing in that moment the way she got so frazzled so easily, just like her great-uncle, her grandfather, and probably her father as well. 

"You sounded jus' like him, y'know." Kitkat remarked, smirking. "The officer who was chasin' us when we went over that cliff. Guess he's your great-uncle, huh? He important?" 

Annabelle didn't answer, instead taking her hair from it's braid. "You got a brush?" 

"Yeah, sure. Here, lemme do it." The criminal sighed, sitting behind Annabelle to comb her hair out. "Sure is dusty." 

"I ain't got a chance to be home very much to wash it in the last few days." Annabelle responded. "We been workin' on a project in the county." 

"Oh?" 

"We wanna build a fence across that ridge y'all and Unk went over. That blondie boy- Bo and his older cousins, they lost their mamas and daddies to the road. It ain't safe. So we all banded together to try and make a fence so nobody'd ever get hurt there again." Annabelle explained, tugging at a tendril of her hair. "Why's it so long?" She said with a sigh. "I always wanted it short, but Grandpapa always said it warn't ladylike to have short hair." 

"I got short hair." Kitkat offered. "Boys still think I'm real cute. Maybe not a lady, but I ain't a lady, that's for sure. I'm a dork-turned-criminal from a bitty farm in Alabama." 

"Can you cut it for me? I'm sure Unk won't mind." Annabelle asked. "And at least I can say y'all weren't totally awful to me while I was a hostage." 

"I guess so. I don't much like treatin' people badly before we kill 'em. That's Dice's thing. Boys are so violent." Kitkat got up to get some scissors from a drawer. "Here, now hold still, hun." 

Annabelle was very pleased with herself as she watched long tufts of her dusty brown hair fall around her. At least she was making the most of a bad situation. 


End file.
